


Cutting to the core

by FatherIimaginedyoutaller



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Robin: Son of Batman (Comics)
Genre: Abuse, Damian Wayne Has PTSD, Dick Grayson is Bad at Feelings, Emotional Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other, Panic Attacks, Unhappy Ending
Language: Español
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:42:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29666772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FatherIimaginedyoutaller/pseuds/FatherIimaginedyoutaller
Summary: After Dick discovers that Damian has been hiding things from him, he gets mad and says things he didn't mean. Now he must face why Damian hid things from him as well as his own perception of him.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	Cutting to the core

It all had ended as fast as it started.

Dick had gone to Damian's school to pick him up, but he hadn't found him with the rest of the kids as he thought he would be. He had asked a teacher nearby where he was and she responded that all the kids in the theater club must stay in to help after the rehearsal for the yearly play.

"The theater club?" Dick had frowned in confusion. "My brother isn't in the theater club."

But the teacher had assured him that he was and guided the man to the auditorium.

Dick's jaw had dropped where he had seen his little brother, the proverbial "demon brat", in a prince charming costume practicing his lines.

After that Dick had just stayed still there waiting for his brother.

Damian turned around and saw his brother from the other side of the room and went paralyzed as if he was terrified of him.

Yep, he was screwed.

__________________________________

The ride home had been silent but as soon as they crossed the umbral of the manor's main door. The older brother pulled the younger to the library.

"How come you didn't tell me you were in the Drama Club?!" He yelled.

Damian frowned: "What is your problem?"

"My problem? Since when do you keep these things for me?"

The man keep yelling and that point Damian wasn't listening, he just rolled his eyes snarkily.

Dick blinked and his anger only grew on his chest.

"What is your problem?" Dick asked angrily. "Why are you being such a brat?"

Damian's mask came off for a second "What did you say to me? You don't know why I did the thing I did, you don't know me at all!"

"Know you? I made you!"

Dick didn't quite right away the damage that those three words had caused, but he knew he had done something wrong as he saw Damian's eyes widening and his mouth gaping open.

"I was the one who fucking raised you, you wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for me!"

Meanwhile Damian had gone away, physically he was still there, but his mind was somewhere else entirely. It was like if he was surrounded by a black void and the only thing he could see was the man it was in front of him.

And that man wasn't his brother.

"I made you," Damian looked up in fear as he gulped "I made sure that you were the perfect heir."

"You should be thankful," Ra's Al Ghul looked down on him "I could easily take away your life if I desired to."

Damian suddenly screamed.

Dick jumped in surprise as he saw the kid throw himself in the ground into a fetal position and yelled for dear life.

"Damian? Damian!" He called but it was drowned by the sound coming from the boy's mouth.

"You're not real!" Damian howled with his eyes closed and covering his ears.

Dick got on his knees in front of the child and tried to touch him but he seemed to be startled by the contact and only cried harder.

Right at that moment the door of the library opened and Bruce entered the room and as he realized the situation he came running next to his youngest bird and pushed the other one out of the way 

"Step aside!" He commanded.

He cradle the boy onto his arms and started to shush him softly, after a while the crying and screaming stopped and was replaced by silent sobs and sniffles.

"Damian?" Bruce said softly "Look at me, it's me."

This proved to be effective as the boy blinked and became aware of his sounding again.

The darkness started to dissipate for Damian and Ra's' voice started to become more and more far away. 

"Baba" he said tiredly

Bruce scooched him closer."It's okay."

The boy sniffed "He was there, I saw him" Damian looked down."It was so real."

"Who did you see?" the father asked.

Damian looked directly into Dick's eyes.

"I saw grandfather."

__________________________________

Dick was pacing outside of Damian's room, trying to calm the nervous nausea that plagued his stomach as he waited for Bruce to come out and probably lecture him on boundaries.

And he didn't deserve that. No. He deserved much worse.

He, Dick Grayson, the man who by all means considered himself Damian's mentor, friend and even father figure had triggered a flashback of Ra's Al Ghul on the teen. 

He had acted in such a way that had reminded his own kid of his former abuser: the one who physically assaulted him, the man who groomed him into a weapon and ultimately killed him. He had reminded him of that man.

He felt nothing but disgust at himself.

He jumped at little as the door of Damian's room opened and his father emerged from it.

Dick forced himself to look Bruce in the eye ."...How is he?"

"He was still shaken up so I had to give him a sedative." Bruce responded.

Both men stayed silent for a few seconds.

"What happened?" Bruce finally asked 

As he asked, inside of the room, Damian was rolling into bed waiting for the sedative to take effect as his training had made him almost immune to any type of anesthetic, he made himself still as he listened to what was happening outside.

Dick looked down in shame. "I was mad at him, he hid this whole life from me, as he was acting as a completely different person and I confronted him about it and I just...lost it."

Bruce sighed. And made a motion for Dick to sit on the bench that was next to the door, he did so.

"Dick...did you know why he didn't tell you this stuff?" He asked 

The younger man "You mean you knew?"

Bruce continued: "He didn't tell you…because he thought you'll make fun of him."

Damian put his ear up against the door and could almost hear Dick's confusion.

"What? I would never–

"You would never try to hurt him like that," his father finished for him"But sometimes you can make comments that rub him the wrong way."

"What? What comments?"

"You go out of your way to single everything that Damian does different from other kids" Bruce explained "And when he does do something like other kids you make some backhanded remark that discourages him."

Dick opened his mouth to disagree but stopped himself as he thought about Bruce just told him.

His mind went over some interactions he had had with Damian over the years, some of which went back even to when he was Batman. 

"Look who decides to join us" Dick had told him one time Damian had come out of his room to have dinner.

"Harry Potter?" He had asked one time he found Damian reading it before bedtime "I would've thought this was beneath you."

But all of those comments had collapsed on what had happened today.

"Bruce...I had no idea...why didn't he tell me?"

In that moment the door opened and Damian stood in between them.

The boy looked at Dick: "I thought that by telling you, you would take it the wrong way and not...want to say anything to me at all anymore."

"Oh, Damian–

"I know. You're sorry," Damian finished for him. "But I'm not sure if this is enough this time…"

Dick felt tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

"I believe, we would both benefit from time to ourselves."Damian concluded.

"I understand, Dami" Dick smiled sadly. "I promise you I will do better."


End file.
